Let's face it, Koya Urabe was one of the favorites in the K-1 MAX Japan -63kg tournament, as he should have been. Even after having his leg dismantled in the first round, Urabe marched on through another fight and found himself in the finals. He put up on hell of a fight, the kind you do when in a big one-night tournament against Yuta Kubo. Tanikawa made mention that both of these men will make the WORLD stage, which is quite a turnaround from last year where Urabe won his qualifying bout, but was not selected because he was not "exciting enough."